‘Self Disclosure’ Tagged Posts

There's another surprising research about the effect of chit chats to our overall happiness. While meaningful and funny conversations can easily b...

There’s another surprising research about the effect of chit chats to our overall happiness. While meaningful and funny conversations can easily boost our endorphins, a group of psychologist recently found out that small talks can be quite stressful for us.

They investigated the types of conversations to see if there’s any different between happy and unhappy folks. Here’s the gist of their new study published in Psychological Science:

Greater wellbeing was related to spending less time alone and more time talking to others. The happiest participants spent 25 per cent less time alone and 70 per cent more time talking than the unhappiest.

But the researchers were surprised to discover that the type of conversations people took part in also affected their happiness levels.

The happiest participants had twice as many deep and meaningful conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest.

Matthias Mehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, said: “These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial.”

The researchers conclude that profound conversations may have the potential to make people happier.

They said: “Just as self-disclosure can instill a sense of intimacy in a relationship, deep conversations may instill a sense of meaning in interaction with partners.”